Holderness-Aiken House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Now, when you talk about the men who shaped Granbury's skyline back in the Victorian era, one name keeps coming up: E.J. Holderness.

Contractor. Builder. The man credited with raising numerous Victorian structures in that town.

And in 1896, he turned right around and built one for himself. For his own family. You get the sense of a craftsman who wanted to prove something, even when the only audience was the people sitting down to supper with him.

Take a look at that front porch; the intricate Eastlake style decoration on it is the kind of detail that doesn't happen by accident. That's a man putting his signature on his own front door. Before 1910, the house was enlarged, growing from what it was into something bigger: a one-story frame home that Holderness himself occupied all the way until 1913.

Then the house moved on, the way houses do. It passed through time until 1926, when it was acquired by Mary Narcissa Rylee Aiken (Mrs. Ed Aiken), born in 1856, gone in 1931, and in between those years, a member of a pioneer Hood County family.

Roots that ran deep in that ground. And the story doesn't stop there. Her daughter, Mabel Aiken Bayer (Mrs.

George Bayer), she's the one who preserved this residence. A Victorian contractor builds a home for his family, a pioneer family's daughter carries it forward, and a granddaughter holds the line. Some houses just refuse to be forgotten.

What the marker says

Contractor E.J. Holderness, credited with building numerous Victorian structures in Granbury, erected this home for his own family, in 1896. The front porch features intricate Eastlake style decoration. Enlarged before 1910, the one story frame house was occupied by Holderness until 1913. It was acquired in 1926 by Mary Narcissa Rylee (Mrs. Ed) Aiken (1856-1931), member of a Pioneer Hood County family. Her daughter, Mabel Aiken (Mrs. George) Bayer, has preserved the residence.